Agreed with everything you said.

The scene in Basket Case was a Taxi Driver reference though wasn't it? I think the guy says the EXACT SAME LINES that the gun salesman says in Taxi Driver.. "need any uppers, downers, qualudes, black beauties..." etc etc etc. I figured it was cuz this was his first trip to New York so Henenlotter was trying to say that everyone in New York acts like the gun dealer from TAXI DRIVER?

Man I love the atmosphere in Basket Case... it would only be one-upped by Brain Damage, I think. New york in the 80's... sexy.

I didn't know about the Taxi Driver connection but it makes a lot of sense. The sleazy bar scenes also seem quite similar to those in Mean Streets. What I also like about stuff like Basket Case, Nightmares, Maniac, etc, is the way they seemed really close to porn - without the sex. There are scenes in Basket Case that seem more like the dialogue build up you'd find in a Jaimie Gillis film (who crossed the boundary from the other direction, with films like Water Power). And Cronenberg employing Marilyn Chambers for Rabid speaks volumes. That whole horror/porn thing didn't disappear; some of the Troma stuff gets there but in a more cartoon-like way and there's a lot of stuff now that's tied in with the whole goth/fetish thing, but I'll always have a soft spot for the sleazier Times Square atmosphere that marked films like Basket Case.

badass/10

My second time watching it, and I still think atsonicpark put it best when he said that it's as if Godard made a giallo flick. The use of foreground in this feature is stunning. I must say that I fond the plot of the film to be a little on the weak side, with the pretty ladies and chickens being the highlights in that respect. Killer soundtrack too.

oh yeah it's definitely a weak plotted film, but the INSANE colors and editing and so on definitelym akes it worthwhile. it's just insane. i dunno if it's even as insane as the opening of ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK, though.

still, one of my favorite giallos ever.. though my favorite is 1973's torso.

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

All this talk of giallos made me finally get around to watching this




Giallo. 5/10

A bit disappointing, both as an Argento film and a giallo. All the themes are there but it seems pretty flat. And Brody's double-role as the killer is absurd.

It was apparently written as a homage to Bava and Argento and the script was pushed around Hollywood, but with no takers. Eventually Argento himself landed the job of effectively directing a homage to himself. That could've been really interesting but Argento has since said that he wasn't at all happy with the final cut and having very little control over the film from the beginning.

yeah didn't like giallo at all. cool cover though.

the cover is awful, especially considering the success of Gomorra (the book) here in italy...

There's already a film of the Gomorrah book but it's not Argento's Giallo, which wasn't based on a book at all.

I know, but this has nothing to do with what I meant.

this is the cover of gomorra (the book), italian edition (dunno outside italy)





warhol and stuff.
It's been all over the place the last few years, making another "cover" with knives is plain lazy (for the italian market)...perhaps I'm being too "obscure" here..

Ah, gotcha. And in that case I agree

< HahahahahaHAahaHA

To me, Bride of Frank almost seemed as if it was made by PFFR. I kept on getting flashbacks to Final Flesh, and Giuseppe's flicks. Then there was the blowjob scene, not too dissimilar from the one in Pink Flamingos. A wonderfully entertaining, extremely vulgar, yet ultimately kind-hearted flick. I really enjoyed the kills too.

District 9

8/10

I loved the pseudo-documentary feel of the opening. The aliens managed to look realistic and fake at the same time, though, and I would've preferred a less bittersweet ending. Overall, it was an enjoyable film with a believable (for the most part) premise, almost like aliens meets Apartheid. Best part was when he got into the alien mech. Loved it when the general got his.

A Christmas Story

9/10

I've wanted to see this one for a while, based on its "holiday classic" status. I think it deserves it. We've all been there; what (Christmas-celebrating) kid didn't have that one toy they wanted so bad and as adults, treasured the memory of when they finally got it? The subplot with the lamp was well-executed and didn't get in the way too much.

Pan's Labrynith

8/10

I usually don't like watching movies with subtitles because it makes them hard to follow, but I had no trouble with this one. I enjoyed how well the film balanced wonderous fantasy with bleak reality. A lot of people have said the Pale Man sequence is really scary, but I didn't think it was too bad.

Falling Down

7/10

Joel Schumacher probably deserves more credit than he's gotten after ruining Batman movies until Christopher Nolan came along, but still...here, he takes an idea that could be anything from hilarious to terrifying and turns it into an arthouse movie for dummies. All the plot points and the visual connotations associated with them are completely obvious. Like Phonebooth, another Schumacher-led good idea turned meh, the depressing (yet inevitable) conclusion brings it down.

Mother of Tears. 3/10

Oh dear, Dario.

9/10

Absolutely terrifying.





More fun than most will admit.